One more done

I got one more melon quilted yesterday. I say that is better than nothing!

36 more to go!

Progess on the DWR quilt, 16-patch blocks, and weeding

It was a busy three days and I spent a lot of time working on the DWR quilt. I now have 22 of the 40 centers done which puts me at 55% complete for the centers, and I have 37 more melons to quilt which puts me at 60% done. I have 50 days left so if I keep up the pace of at least two elements a day, I will make my goal of having this done by the end of August.

I had to give my fingers a break on Saturday so I switched to sewing together the 16 patch blocks. It is funny that they appear brown when they are mostly marron and wine colors. Must be the bad lighting. There are some taupe, navy blue, and tans in these blocks too. I got 54 blocks sewn and pressed. Here they are on the design wall with the other 7 I already had made.

Sunday morning is was cooler, but humid. I braved the humidity and weeded all of the front flower beds. It took almost 2 hours, but the weeds are gone for now. I attempted to dead head the Shasta daisies, but found the job to be futile. There are thousands of flower heads and it would take hours and hours to cut each one. I am going to have to rethink this.

DWR, hemming, and blocks

I was busy yesterday and made progress! I had to stop at JoAnn's on my way home and get a spool of navy thread. I needed it so I could hem this top for one of the guys at work. I had other darker blue thread, but they just weren't dark enough.

I got two melons and one center done. There is another center I got outlined, but I didn't get the four melon shapes quilted so right now it doesn't count. I either miscounted or did the math wrong with the number of melons I had done. As of this morning I have 49 of the 93 melons quilted which is 52% done and I now have 15 of the 40 centers quilted which is 37%. I have given myself a goal to get these done by the end of August which gives me 54 days to get 44 melons and 25 centers done.

I squeezed in a few minutes to get four more 16-patch blocks made.

I am taking Friday as a vacation day. My big plans are to try and finish up my laundry room floor and of course make a dent in the DWR quilt. Hot with possible thunderstorms for the weekend so my time will be limited/short outside. The heat and lack of rain had the Shasta daisy flowers turning brown already! I will deadhead them and if they will bloom again. There are other plants in the yard that are doing ok; it's the ones at the curb that a fading quickly. Have a great weekend!

Staying on task

I have been following my plan of getting at least two elements done on the DWR quilt every day. Yesterday I got one melon and one center done. Here is what it looks like from the back. The woman that owns the quilt bought the backing.

I did get three of the 16 patch blocks sewn together. I used 2 1/2" strips so these will finish at 8". I should try to sew together a few every day.

DWR quilt progress and a question

Yesterday was a struggle. I just could not fall asleep Sunday night so the lack of sleep showed it's ugly head yesterday. It was hard to keep my eyes open yesterday. Despite being tired, I did manage to get some quilting done on the DWR quilt. I needed something easy to do so I continued on stitching a line of quilting at the binding edge. Yes, I know it is weird that I already have the binding on this quilt. I sewed it on once I got the melons at the outside edge quilted. I am half way around the quilt with this line of stitching. When I sewed this block back together the floral fabric was just a bit small so I added a piece of solid to make it bigger. I just happened to stop quilting here yesterday at this spot.

I did struggle with getting a few things done around the house - washing sheets, cooking - so I didn't quilt either. I didn't go out and water the plants; I was just too tired. I will have to water them tonight being that we have another 90 degree day and no rain in the forecast until Friday.

Here is a picture of the two baby quilts and the Gee's Bend quilt that I pin basted this past weekend. I made the baby quilt tops earlier this year out of scraps. That didn't make a dent in my scraps.

Question - on the new blogger format when I go to approve a comment that comment is not being copied to my gmail. It did on the old blogger format. Does anyone out there know what I need to do to make that happen? I like the private side conversations that I have with the ladies that comment when I reply that are not posted for all to see. I would appreciate any help I could get!

Here are pictures of the kids on the quilts. They were a big hit and much appreciated by the entire family. The little boy said he like all the details.

Got some stuff done

First items to get done were pin basting two baby quilts and finishing pin basting the Gee' Bend quilt. I forgot to take a picture. I decided to start sewing together the strips I had cut May 2 and 3rd that were hanging on the design wall.

After sewing the strips together, I pressed and sliced them for 16 patch blocks. Here is my stack ready to sew. There are around 122 blocks to be sewn together.

Here is what the design wall looks like now. The bits and pieces of the marron and navy strips are sitting on the table. I sew these together after I get the 122 done.

I hemmed this top for one of the guys at work. I could only take it up an 1" because of the label. The label is printed on. He has another shirt that needs shortened, but I didn't have any navy blue thread.

I even did my mending!

I did get 3 more centers and 4 more melons quilted on the DWR quilt.

It was either too humid or too hot to work outside this weekend. I did enjoy fireworks from the comfort of my air conditioned living room courtesy of my neighbors. One household shot their fireworks off Friday night and the other household did their's Saturday. The only outside work I did was to stick two of my litrope plants back in the ground that the neighbor's cat dug up and give them and the flowers a drink of water. Here is what the front looks like looking toward the street. When driving up the cul-de-sac you can't see that center bed. The ornamental grass blocks the view so it is like I have my own secret garden in my front yard. This fall I will have to transplant a few things so I can fill in that empty spot in the middle of that center bed.

DWR progress and the squash

I was happy to make more progress on the DWR quilt. I got one melon and two centers quilted yesterday. So now I have 48% of the melons quilted up from 43% since Monday, and 25% of the centers quilted up from 15%.

I labeled two quilts last night to give to a lady I work with. A friend of hers was found to have cancer when she was pregnant with her second child. She had to undergo an emergency C-section then 4 more surgeries right after she had the baby including a tumor on her brain stem. The doctor's opened her up and cannot do anything about the cancer in her lungs. It is just a matter of time before she passes. She also has a 7 years old. I told my co-worker that the kids need quilts. She got me their names so here are the quilts for them - they are laying on top of the Gee's Bend piece that I still need to finish pin basting.

This is why I have a stash of baby quilts! Looking for suitable quilts last night I realized I need to make more. I don't have any pink girly quilts and overall I only have four more quilts in the stash. Yikes! I can't believe that they seem to find homes so quickly! I know I have a couple tops; I will have to dig those out and get them pin basted. That will at least be a start!

My deck garden is doing well. Last night I saw that one of the squash is hanging off the side of the pot. It will be fun to watch it grow.

I am looking forward to another 3 day weekend. You all have a safe and happy 4th of July!